Beyond

By David E. Thigpen

The leaders of neo-traditionalism, the stylistic fortress that has long held at bay the barbarians of commercial jazz, have lately found themselves in a quandary. The very walls that protect the purity of their music have come to restrict its reach. Carefully, saxophonist Redman is trying to nudge open the gates a bit--not to commercial dreck, but to a less doctrinaire approach. Only an artist with Redman's extravagant formal skills could pull off such a gambit. The cuts jump from the strangely fitting eastern drone of Leap of Faith to the modern bounce of Stoic Revolutions, all woven together by Redman's probing solos. He's building something new. Long may it stand.

--By David E. Thigpen